1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is generally related to kitchen tools. In particular, the present disclosure relates to tools for squeezing, pressing, extruding and otherwise processing food articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Garlic presses, potato ricers, citrus juicers and the like are generally known in the kitchen product market. The traditional device of this nature has upper and lower arms, with one terminal end of the lower arm hingedly linked to a corresponding terminal end of the upper arm. Opposite the hinge, the arms have a pair of opposing handles. In the case of an orange juicer, the lower arm incorporates a dome along its length for supporting half an orange, and the upper arm incorporates a complementary cup for compressing the orange half against the dome. A user squeezes juice from the orange by squeezing together the handles until the cup approaches the dome. The dome is typically surrounded by a trough to collect the juice and/or other features that channel the juice into a container.
In the case of a garlic press or ricer, the dome is replaced by a receptacle and a piston is linked to the upper arm, opposite the receptacle. When a clove of garlic or potato is placed in the receptacle, the piston is moved against the clove or potato. The handles are squeezed together to force the garlic or potato through apertures in the receptacle.
Due to the size of the traditional device of this nature and the density of the food articles, a significant amount of effort or force must be exerted on such a device in order to squeeze out the juice, press the garlic or rice the potato. It commonly takes both hands to press garlic; it is not uncommon for a person to set a juicer on a table or to couple a ricer to the rim of a cooking pot and use both hands, gravity and his/her body weight to assist in moving the upper arm downward against the lower arm, foregoing altogether any attempt to squeeze together the handles purely by hand. Completing any of these tasks can be difficult or impossible for a person small in stature, the elderly, a person suffering with arthritis, a disabled person, or the like. For many of the latter group of individuals, using traditional devices of this nature is not possible.